Grading-machine.



0.3. DUNN. GRADING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION TILED JAN. 25, 1911.

Patented July 25, 1911,.

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Hm M k w Nw V N NW \N. o o \M. m\ @U 1 Wm w \e M \Q hn Inventor,

Witnesses Q Atto rheys.

G. B. DUNN.

GRADING MAGHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25, 1911.

Patented July 25, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Inventor,

Witnesss Attorneys,

COLUMBIA FLANOURAPH 60.. WASHINGTON, n. C.

C. B. DUNN.

GRADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 51111.25, 1911.

998,680, Patented July 25, 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Atto rneys CHARLES BUSHNELL DUNN, 0F BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

GRADING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 25, 1911.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Serial No. 604,654.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that T, CHARLES E. DUNN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Blrmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama,have invented a new and useful Gracling-h lachine, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to grading machines, its principal object beingthe provision of means whereby a cut equal to or greater than the widthof the machine can be made during each trip of the machine.

A further object is to provide improved means for adjustably mountingthe excavating and conveying elements relative to the supportingstructure, whereby cuts of different depths may be made.

Another object is to provide a compact form of excavating wheel carryinga plurality of buckets, these buckets being designed to successivelydischarge into a hopper extending into the wheel and which serves todirect the discharged material onto an adjustably supported conveyerextending laterally from the machine.

WVith the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within thescope of what is claimed without departhrg from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings :Figure 1 is a side elevation ofthe complete machine.Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the excavating wheel and showingthe body of the machine and the motor and conveyer in plan. Fig. 3 is acentral vertical section taken transversely through the machine.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates themain frame of the machine, the same being made up of any desiredarrangement of I or channel beams and being carried by supporting wheels2, the front wheels having knuckles 3 and arms 4 whereby said wheels canbe shifted by means of any suitable mechanism for the purpose ofsteering the machine while being drawn from place to place. A boiler,such as indicated at 5, is preferably mounted upon the rear end of themain frame 1.

A supplemental frame 6 made up of any suitable arrangement of 1 beams,channel beams or the like, .is mounted on the main frame 1 and ispivotally connected thereto, at one end, as indicated at 7. Thissupplemental frame may be shifted at its other end relative to the mainframe, by means of a screw 8 or the like designed to bear downwardly onthe main frame and, when rotated inone direction, to swing thesupplemental frame upwardly so that it will as sume any desired anglerelative to the main frame.

Hangers 9 extend downwardly from the front portion of the supplementalframe and are suitably braced, as indicated at 10, the lower ends ofthese hangers being connected by a cross beam 11 carrying harrow teeth12 although, under some conditions, it will be found desirable tosubstitute plows for the purpose of loosening the soil, instead of theharrow teeth. Additional hangers 13 are also extended downwardly fromthe sides of the supplemental frame 6 and carry scrapers 14 whichconverge rearwardly and have their forward ends projecting beyond thesides of the path traveled by the soil engaging devices 12, as clearlyindicated in Fig. 2.

A shaft 15 extends transversely of and is journaled upon thesupplemental frame 6 and has short broad spokes 15, preferably of wood,radiating therefrom, each of these spokes being straddled by, andattached to the inner forked end 16 of a metal spoke 17 all of thesespokes 17 being disposed in a plane located beyond one side of thespokes 15. The outer ends of the spokes 17 merge into laterallyextending arms 18 to which is secured a continuous rim 19 of wood orother suitable material, this rim carrying a plurality of buckets 20projecting outwardly therefrom and also carrying a series of smallerbuckets 21 extending inwardly from the rim at the bases or bottoms ofthe buckets 20. It will be seen that, by employing the constructiondescribed, a considerable space is formed between the rim 19 and forkedportions 16 of the spokes, this space being completely open at one sideof the wheel so as to receive a hopper 22 into which the buckets aredesigned to successively discharge their contents. This hopper isinclined downwardly to an endless conveyer 23 mounted on rollers 24-which, in turn, are journaled in a frame 25. This frame is pivotallymounted on a shaft 26 extending longitudinally of the machine andjournaled in a frame 27 extending upwardly from the supplemental frame 6at one side of the excavating wheel. A gear 28 is secured to the shaft26 and meshes with another gear 29 carried by a short shaft 30 journaledin the frame 27, this latter shaft 30 being also provided with asprocket 31. Said sprocket receives motion through a chain 32 fromanother sprocket 33 secured to the shaft 15 hereinbefore referred to. Ashaft 33 having drums 33 is carried by the upper portion of the frame 27and adjusting cables 31 are secured thereto and to the outer end of theframe 25 so that, by winding said cables on the drum, as by means of acrank 35, the frame 25, and the endless conveyer carried thereby, can beshifted to any desired angle relative to the frame 27.

One or more arms 36 may be extended laterally from the frame 27 andabove the excavating wheels, these arms being braced by rods or cables37 and being connected to one side of the supplemental frame 6, by meansof rods or cables 38 attached to a standard or to standards 39upstanding from said supplemental frame.

A gear ring 40 is secured to the spokes 17 and meshes with a gear 41secured to a crank shaft 42 journaled on the supplemental frame 6. Thisshaft is adapted to be driven by an engine 43 also mounted on saidsupplemental frame, it being designed to conduct steam from the boilerto the engine through pipes not shown but which have one or moreflexible oints permitting movement of the frame 6 relative to the frame1.

The machine described is designed to be drawn by a traction engine or byany other suitable means and the engine 43 is employed solely for thepurpose of driving the excavating wheel and the conveyer. By means ofthe screw 8, the frame 6 may be shifted relative to frame 1 so as toproduce a corresponding movement of the soil engaging devices 12, thescrapers 14:, the excavating wheel, and all other parts connected to orcarried by the supplemental frame. As the excavating wheel rotates inthe direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, the open ends of thebuckets 20 are brought successively into engagement with the soil andthe material engaged by the buckets is conveyed upwardly, graduallypiling in the bucket 21 and finally discharging from the two buckets 20and 21 into the hopper 22 which, in turn, directs the material on to theconveyer 23. Motion is transmitted to this conveyer from the shaft 15 ofthe excavating wheel through the gearing which has been described andsuch conveyer will therefore carry the material beyond the side of themachine and discharge it. By providing the teeth 12 or other similarsoil engaging devices, the dirt can be loosened in advance of thescrapers and excavating wheel so as to thus greatly facilitate theoperation of the machine. After the soil has been loosened, the scrapers14 gather it into the path of the buckets so that it will be collectedand elevated by them in the manner hereinbefore described. As thescrapers and the soil loosening elements extend in front of thesupporting wheels of the machine and, if desired, beyond the outer sidesof the wheels, it will be apparent that the path graded by the teeth 12and the scrapers will be equal to or greater than that required toreceive the machine.

What is claimed is z- 1. A machine of the class described including awheel supported frame, an excavating wheel mounted for rotation upon anaxis extending transversely of the frame, said wheel being supportedbetween the ends of the frame, an endless conveyer extending laterallyfrom the machine and projecting close to the wheel, means fixedlymounted upon the frame and surrounded by the wheel for directingmaterial onto the conveyer from the upper portion of the wheel, andmeans operated by the wheel for actuating the conveyer.

2. A machine of the class described including a wheel supported frame,an excavating wheel carried thereby and supported between the endsthereof, said wheel being mounted for rotation about an axis extendingtransversely of the frame, soil loosening devices supported by the frameand in front of the excavating wheel, said devices extending laterallybeyond the sides of the path of the supporting wheels, and scrapingdevices supported by the frame and back of the soil loosening devices,for directing the loosened soil inwardly into the path of the excavatingwheel, said scrapers and wheel forming an excavation of greater widththan the path of the supporting wheels of the machine.

3. A machine of the class described including a wheel supported frame,an excavating wheel carried thereby between the ends thereof, said wheelbeing mounted for rotation about an axis extending transversely of themachine, a hopper fixed relative to the frame and surrounded by thewheel, said hopper discharging laterally beyond one side of theexcavating wheel, an endless conveyer extending laterally from the wheeland arranged to receive material from the hopper, means for transmittingmotion to the conveyer from the excavating wheel, and means for swingingsaid conveyer relative to the wheel during the actuation of the conveyerand wheel.

4. A machine of the class described including a supporting frame, ashaft mounted for rotation, spokes radiating from the shaft,

supplemental spokes disposed in a plane at one side of the firstmentioned spokes and having forked terminals straddling and secured tosaid first mentioned spokes, laterally extending arms at the outer endsof the supplemental spokes, a rim secured upon said arms, bucketscarried by and movable With the rim, and a hopper projecting into thespace between the rim and the forked terminals of the spokes.

5. A machine of the class described including a supporting frame, anendless conveyer extending laterally therefrom, a hopper discharging onto the conveyer, and an excavating Wheel for directing material into thehopper, said Wheel including central spokes, a rim spaced therefrom,supplemental spokes connecting the rim to the central spokes andarranged at one side of the Wheel, and buckets carried by the rim, saidhopper projecting into the other side of Wheel and between the rim andthe central spokes,

6. A machine of the class described including a supporting structure, anexcavating Wheel mounted for rotation, said Wheel including buckets, aconveyer extending laterally from the supporting structure and Wheel, ahopper for directing material from the buckets and on to the conveyer,means for transmitting motion from the Wheel to the conveyer, a motorshaft, and meshing gears upon said shaft and Wheel for rot-ating theWheel.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES BUSHNELL DUNN.

WVitnesses:

HEZ THOMPSON, A. S. KLYoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

